Open thread: The Restoring Honor rally

posted at 10:29 am on August 28, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

This is already underway, but for those of you who cannot attend the Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” rally, you can watch it here, live through Ustream TV. I’ll be preparing for my own show this afternoon, but in the meantime, enjoy and feel free to comment. Will this truly be apolitical, as Glenn Beck insists, or will it turn into a political demonstration? Or, rather, will Beck’s political opponents turn it into a political rally themselves? All those questions are being answered right now. And don’t forget to donate to the Special Operations Warriors Fund, the charity that Beck and the rally support today.

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It was a FABULOUS day! When we drove up, the steps to the Memorial were filled with people.
*
You could NOT get anywhere NEAR the reflecting pool. People were shoulder to shoulder on the walkway, down the bank to the edge of the pool.
*
It was PACKED with people to the Vietnam Memorial.
There were people of ALL color, babies, teens, 20 somethings to the elderly.
Everyone was in a great mood, smiling, cheering.
*
It was a great day.

The media is managing to work “mainly white” into the first line of every story. It’s very annoying.

Cindy Munford on August 29, 2010 at 12:17 AM

It’s pathetic, transparent, and the only people buying into it are the 21% of liberals.

I went the the grocery store today, and the crowd was mostly white. I went to the park with my kid this morning – mostly white again. It’s crazy – either this country is mostly white, or there is some kind of racist conspiracy going on!

Terrie, I know it is late and you might not read this. You don’t know me so you have no reason to believe what I say.

At one time, I worked for a pretty well-known evangelical Pastor/Evangelist. During that time, I was privileged to watch people find a new life through a new faith in Jesus Christ. It is wonderful to see lives changed.

I have also lived with Mormons of every stripe, very strict and then some “jack” Mormons. Just about all of them, very good people. I did not believe all that they believe and teach. There is a big difference between what I believe and what they believe.

However, I cannot and will not judge the nature of Beck’s faith. I don’t know what is in his heart. You don’t know what is in his heart. However, God knows Beck’s intent. He is the Judge, not us.

I was there. The crowd was awesome, I haven’t heard any official count yet but I would estimate it to be close to two million. Whatever the number, it was much, much larger than last year’s 9/12 tea party march in DC.

And the place was spick-and-span when we left. Not a piece of trash in sight. Except for the moron standing near the metro station with a sign saying, “Glenn Beck is a Terrorist.”

Hawkdriver, I love you 8 pages later! Jetboy, I’m Catholic and I thoroughly enjoyed Restoring Honor so I am not sure what your problem is with this. My only regret is that I could not afford to do both today & 9/12.

I know in my heart that today I watched as the Hand Of GOD touched hearts and minds of this nation. This was GOD’S wake-up call to the American People. I truly believed that I watched an event today that will hopefully change the direction of the country and the hearts and minds of our people going forward. At least that is my fervent prayer this evening. Today’s Restoring Honor event was the most inspiring GODLY event I believe that I’ve ever witnessed in my 63 years on this planet. It’s so, so sad to go to the Huffington Post and read the hateful messages they’re posting. It’s like watching Demons spewing evil hatred from their tongues at something so wonderful and positive as this event. GOD is making these people feel very afraid on this day. I pray for our country and for Glenn Beck this evening. May GOD BLESS all of you who read this and our wonderful country that he has given to all of us. Today will go down in history as the day America found it’s way again.

Incidentally, the reason the crowd swelled as Sarah was talking was because the DC Metro was bogged down. We had well over three thousand people trying to board the Metro at the New Carrolton line this morning at 8:15. The line stretched for about three hundred yards. We showed up then and couldn’t board the metro until 10:00. Showed up at the rally at about the time Sarahcuda was speaking.

Christian Conservative on August 28, 2010 at 11:43 PM

We were about a half hour behind you! I was with a group of 5 buses that arrived at the New Carrolton station at about 8:45. Within minutes the line was all the way to the opposite end of the parking lot, and up another side. Took us an hour to get on the metro, needless to say we got to the rally an hour late and missed Cuda’s speech.

I don’t blame my group’s organizers for not getting there earlier. I don’t think anyone expected this many people, not even Beck.

Probably too late but… I’m grateful for all of you who attended. There is still so much about America that is good and wholesome.

It does seem that outside of our own groups… everyone chooses the side of evil. But that is just not so! Even those who are not too sure of religion choose the better part of life. It is good to be among Americans who understand that connection with God that I feel.

Phil Johnson of Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church identified these 4 key differences between Christianity and Mormonism:

1. The issue of authority. Christians believe the Bible is God’s authoritative, inerrant, unchanging and complete self-revelation (Jude 3). Scripture is the touchstone to which all other truth-claims must be brought (Isaiah 8:20). The sole and sufficient authority by which all controversies in spiritual matters are to be determined is none other than God’s Spirit speaking through Scripture.
By contrast, Mormons consider The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants as additional authoritative revelation, thereby undermining the true authority of Scripture and violating the principle of Revelation 22:18.

2. The doctrine of God. Christians believe there is one God who eternally exists in three co-equal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mormons reject the doctrine of the Trinity, believing that there are many worlds controlled by different gods.

Mormon foundation for understanding the nature of God (very important): The First Vision

3. The supremacy of Christ. Christians believe Jesus Christ is pre-existent God who became a man in His incarnation while maintaining His full deity. Mormons claim Jesus was a “spirit child” of Mary and Elohim (and the brother of Lucifer) who has now been elevated to the level of deity.

That may be Phil Johnson’s opinion on Mormon views toward Christ, but to understand what is actually taught see St. John chapter 1: John chapter 1. Christ’s creation of the world (as deity) is taught consistently.

4. The means of justification. Christians believe justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Mormons believe a person’s works in this life will determine his or her status in the life to come, and that “salvation” is actually a progression toward godhood.

Mormons certainly can be good citizens and great Americans, but they are not Christian.

Dr. Charles Stanley has been leading 140 days of prayer, in which people simply committed to pray for America. My husband and I made the commitment, but I don’t know where we are in it, because we are not going to stop at 140 days. :)

I pray there is something stirring in this country. God bless you, Glenn Beck, for your willingness to take this public stand for God and America and encourage others to do so, as well.

WOW OH, WOW! I just got back to my house after the bus rolled back into Atlanta around 6:00 a.m. I HAD to have a shower first before logging on.

I can tell all of you who didn’t get to go, there were hundreds of thousands there carrying the torch for ALL freedom-loving people! It was so wonderful to see so many young people in the crowd, and even more awesome to notice they’re crying as the Viet Nam veteran, who had phosphorous acid take away half of his face, say one of the final prayers. He wept openly as he acknowledge vets past & present, and particularly emoted when discussing the homecoming the Viet Nam vets never got.

Well, they got one yesterday, that’s for sure! I am still swooning from the whole trip.

One of the media stories I saw today quoted a black couple who said they strode through the 8.28 rally crowd proudly sporting their blue Obama t-shirts. They told the reporter that they didn’t get the confrontation they had expected; they just got strange looks from folks. They said the only comment they ever got from anybody in that wonderful sea of humanity was “I’ll be praying for you.”

I can tell you that the person who said that to them was not being catty; it was really from the heart, and that’s the best way to combat attempts at unnecessary provocation.

There was at least one interloper who came to cause trouble, and one of the cops (who graciously gave me a ride back to the hotel due to my severely swollen ankles and dehydration) told me that he was arrested.

Why isn’t that in any of the news stories? I can guarantee you that if anyone from the 8.28 rally had done the same, that’s all we’d be hearing about: “that right-wing extremist who came to disrupt Sharpton’s rally was arrested. Typical behavior seen at most Tea Party events.”

FAIL!

I’ll got into more detail in a blog post on my site, but for now I must try to get some sleep. I have some interesting tid bits that the cop told me about left-wingers and their rallies and the contrast to conservative family-friendly rallies/events at the capitol. Needless to say, they prefer one over the other.

I was on the right about midway of the reflecting pool. We could see the last jumbo-tron that was erected, but it didn’t matter. We could see enough and hear enough, and everyone was hugging, exchanging information, and praying together.

What a fantastic weekend. There is hope, America. We MUST stand together and FIGHT to bring back honor!

I just got home after driving all night back from DC, I’m broke, exhausted, and emotional from this experience but would not have missed it for the world. I only hope I can live up to the challenge of the message from this historic day. I’m so not worthy of the freedoms bestowed upon me by God, the Founders, and all of the great Americans who sacrificed for me. I’m inspired to return the favor.

I don’t blame my group’s organizers for not getting there earlier. I don’t think anyone expected this many people, not even Beck.

UltimateBob on August 29, 2010 at 2:30 AM

I drove up to Franconia to catch the Metro in. I had the same experience. The 5200 parking space garage was full and two lines at least 200yds long waiting to board. We drove to a nearby mall, parked and caught a cab. 15 minutes and $30 later we were at the Washington Monument. It was already packed but thin enough to be able to navigate around the mall. Later that became impossible.

darwin; i was at Franconia-SF metro stop and in the huge line to get on the train. Our friends called and said to go park at the pentagon, so we did and we drove down to the Pentagon, hopped on the yellow line to L’Enfant and got off there. Then we walked back over the ARlington bridge and to the car at the pentagon after eating at Pentagon City.

It wasa wonderful day. Crowd—enormous! energized, courteous, clean, helpful and just great all around.

When you hear/read other religious folks making fun of evangenlicals (or anyone even acting evangelical in their mind) I guess you just naturally have to urge to say something negative back about their faith. I’m never regretful about resisting the urge for fear of insulting others. Your comment reaffirmed that.

We have a whole world out there that would love to see Christianity fall on it’s face. I don’t think we need to pitch in and help them.

It wasa wonderful day. Crowd—enormous! energized, courteous, clean, helpful and just great all around.

ted c on August 29, 2010 at 8:55 AM

It was awesome! Did you see the geese fly over when the program started? At that time we were at the WWII memorial, dead center. Someone said “here they come” and a flock of about 16 Canadian geese flew right over us, low … directly down the center of the pool pulling up right before the stage and veering to the right. Pretty awesome.

I saw those geese too. Although I’m sure they had originally intended to land in the pool and decided to head for less densely populated areas, it was remarkable because of how low they were flying and how they stayed centered over the pool for the entire length before veering off to the right. I was sitting way off to the left (I think somewhere behind you, ted c.) If you look at this picture, the white dotted line in the large field on the left is the bank of port-a-potties. To the left of the potties is a road, and then another stand of trees. I was under those trees, near the end of the potty line–the end that’s farthest away from the Lincoln Memorial. :-( Couldn’t get much closer, and we arrived at 9:45 AM.

I left this thread early last night because I couldn’t stand all the BS infighting over religion, mostly from people who weren’t even there. Wish they would give it a rest; it’s really tiring, and this event was about much more than that. Glad to see more posts this morning from others who were there.

The thing about the geese was it fit so perfectly with the program intro … the music, the scenes they were showing. It was quiet except for the music and then wooosh … about five feet over my head a perfect V formation dead center all the way down the lenght of the pool.

Glad you made it. Awesome event, awesome people and one helluva powerful statement by ordinary people.

We got there around eightish … tons of people but you could still manage to navigate around a bit. Later that was impossible. We were in the right place at the right time when Beck and Palin arrived. Everyone hollered and they waved and hollered back.

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
–John Adams
rockmom on August 28, 2010 at 1:02 PM

That quote from John Adams is ‘dead nuts right-on’.

If you embrace atheism, you’re leaving yourself out of the American experience.

How’s that for an inflamatory statement?!

Thanks rockmom for posting that quote.

listens2glenn on August 28, 2010 at 6:36 PM

John Adams quote at was ‘dead nuts right-on’, but he spoke of being “moral”, not being “religious”.

Your misrepresentation of Adam’s words is just “dead nuts”.

All moral systems are not a product of a belief in divine revelation. Mine is Objectivism, and it’s a product of observation and reason. I believe that a pattern toward development vs. destruction (good vs. evil) is evident, and that proper morality is deduced from that. So is proper political theory.

Our morals won’t always agree, as yours won’t with other interpretations of God, Christianity or ever your own Church. We’ll of course believe that our morals are better, but it doesn’t mean that people who disagree have none. It also doesn’t mean that different moral systems are equal, just different.

Objectivists have a solid moral foundation, and any anyone who doesn’t believe that is either misinformed or lying to themselves.

Thanks for all the reports. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch but maybe a half hour of it due to having to get to my business. I am hoping it is going to be shown on TV somewhere today so I can watch it. Hopefully, in the afternoon after attending church.

Phil Johnson of Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church identified these 4 key differences between Christianity and Mormonism:

…

Mormons certainly can be good citizens and great Americans, but they are not Christian.

Terrie on August 28, 2010 at 8:19 PM

Terrie, that’s just an opinion, not a “certainty”.

I’m not a Christian or a scholar of Christianity so take my opinion for what it’s worth. I don’t think the differences that you listed are significant enough to carve Mormonism out from Christianity unless 1) the Bible itself defines conflicting criteria for being a Christian or 2) unless they clearly and significantly contradict the Bible. I don’t think they rise to that level.

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
–John Adams
rockmom on August 28, 2010 at 1:02 PM

Not only do I stand by my original statement, I’ll throw more napalm on the fire.

“Without God, there is no morality. Ergo; Athieism and morality are mutually exclusive”.

But for what it’s worth, I think your response to Terrie is well put.

I’m not a Christian or a scholar of Christianity so take my opinion for what it’s worth. I don’t think the differences that you listed are significant enough to carve Mormonism out from Christianity unless 1) the Bible itself defines conflicting criteria for being a Christian or 2) unless they clearly and significantly contradict the Bible. I don’t think they rise to that level.

I watched ” Restoring Honor” rally on my computer. No political statements were made. Only statements about Honor and God and these two words scare to the death the liberals and the media. Some of the speakers praised Jesus Christ and that will also irk the liberals and the media. Notice how the media is injecting race into it. In the hours to come, you can bet on Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin getting bashed and demonized by the Media.
The media will also try to play down the number of people who attended but the photo’s do not lie but it would not surprise me if the media “photoshop” the photos to make it look like a smaller crowd. I do not put nothing past them.

My Wife, Grandaughter and I were there. It was jam packed and awesome. The closest we could get was near the WWII memorial. It was noisy and difficult to hear the guest speakers.

I would suggest a simulcast for the next one. Wouldn’t it have been great if you could tune into a radio station and hear while you where there?

On the “Mainly white” topic, this was very true and I mentioned it to my wife while I was there, and she replied with “Why is that?”. How true. What she meant was “Why is it that we are not reaching and inspiring more blacks and other races to this message?” I see NOTHING racist from this message, NOTHING.

My rubric is the old Yankee Stadium which held just under 60,000 and I have been there several times in the past when it was filled to capacity. I also know how long it took to get everybody out, into their cars, or onto the subway.

The media will also try to play down the number of people who attended but the photo’s do not lie but it would not surprise me if the media “photoshop” the photos to make it look like a smaller crowd. I do not put nothing past them.

flintstone on August 29, 2010 at 10:54 AM

How right you are, flintstone.

Take a look at this photo from the NY Times. The bottom of that picture ends at the WWII Memorial, and it covers almost the same distance (1/2 to 3/4 mile) as this photo.

I read the NYTs link article and was surprised to read their admittion that the Sharpton rally only drew “several hundred.”

They were snide about most everything else but they got that right.

hawkdriver on August 29, 2010 at 11:06 AM

Not really. I walked past the Sharpton thing, right in the middle of the mall, on the way to the RH Rally at about 11:00 AM (damn line at the Metro station made me late and I missed the speech by Palin). There were maybe 5 or 6 people there listening to the regorded messages over the loudspeakers.

I don’t know how they came up with “several hundred” unless they were counting the people walking by.

The media will also try to play down the number of people who attended but the photo’s do not lie but it would not surprise me if the media “photoshop” the photos to make it look like a smaller crowd. I do not put nothing past them.

flintstone on August 29, 2010 at 10:54 AM

I think it is a given they will play down the numbers. They have to, in their mind it really is self preservation. It won`t matter, they cannot get around the internet and they certainly will not be able to curb the message that was passed yesterday.

I am comparing it to the number of people at last year’s 9-12 DC Tea Party March. I was there in the middle of it, and I’ve heard “official” count numbers ranging from hundreds of thousands to 1.2 million.

Assuming that the real number was somewhere in the middle (say 700,000) I would estimate that I was in the middle of a crowd of well over a million yesterday.

I think it is a given they will play down the numbers. They have to, in their mind it really is self preservation. It won`t matter, they cannot get around the internet and they certainly will not be able to curb the message that was passed yesterday.

bluemarlin on August 29, 2010 at 11:38 AM

Even FOX news is sticking to the “thousands” number. At first I was a little disappointed that they would downplay it like that (when I saw it on their website I thought I had mistakenly clicked on CNN.com). But then I realized that they had to play it down, or else get slammed by every other media outlet for unfairly promoting the event and/or trying to inflate the numbers (even if the numbers are real).

Regarding the rest of your post. Ignoring my reasoning and just quoting someone who concludes the opposite is not a well reasoned argument and is unlikely to impress anyone. If you can’t do better than that, I’ll just consider it a surrender of intellect to stubbornness on your part.

It’s really a tough call. I too thought yesterday was larger than 9/12. Yesterday I was closer to the rear, and on 9/12 I was closer to the front. I thought 9/12 had more than a million, but the reports I read (not including O’Reilly’s disgraceful insistence on 40,000) put the number at 200,000-300,000. That, and my Yankee Stadium metric were all I could go on. However, I never made it anywhere close to the front of yesterday’s rally.

A million would not surprise me. After all, it took me more than 3 hours to get from the rally to College Park on the Metro–ordinarily a 20 minute trip. Never took me more than 10 or 15 minutes to get out of Yankee Stadium

BREAKING NEWS: There will not be any Catholics or Mormons or Jews or Muslims or Baptists, (etc etc) in heaven !!

I’m sooo happy to know it’s not up to us/me to get there:

For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Now, that, my friends, is AMAZING GRACE !! :-)

Terri, if you remain unwilling to extend summa dat to those with varying doctrinal distinctions, methinks you’re at risk of walking at odds with the He Who said that, no ??

Interesting note from Doug Powers over at MM’s site:
NBC reported 300,000, and if you don’t hear event organizers saying there were more than that, it’s because 300,000 was the limit of their permit.
IrishEi on August 29, 2010 at 12:50 PM

Ignoring my reasoning and just quoting someone who concludes the opposite is not a well reasoned argument and is unlikely to impress anyone. If you can’t do better than that, I’ll just consider it a surrender of intellect to stubbornness on your part.

elfman on August 29, 2010 at 12:15 PM

It’s ok if you chalk it up to “a surrender of intellect to stubbornness” on my part. I don’t believe it is, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to believe it.

As my beliefs aren’t based on whether or not anybody else (except God) agrees with me or not, I’m ok with it.

I still Believe athieism is based on “defiance of God”, and not intellect.

For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Now, that, my friends, is AMAZING GRACE !! :-)

And that’s what I call AMAZING GRACE SARCASM.

INFIDEL! I know how to handle this, too.

sharrukin on August 28, 2010 at 8:20 PM
rbj on August 28, 2010 at 8:21 PM

Me, Sharrukin, and rbj are coming after you with the Soft Cushions and the Comfy Chair (insert dramatic music)!

We’re CLOSE to agreement on this, but I also believe that it’s when someone puts man’s ‘intellect’ on God’s throne, which amounts to defiance of God, the end result is the atheist’s position.

pambi on August 29, 2010 at 1:54 PM

You’re gonna have to expound on the “when someone puts man’s ‘intellect’ on God’s throne” part of that.
I’m not getting any mental picture or meaning of that line at all.
That’s not necessarily your fault, either. Ime impurfect 2.

I loved watching it on TV. C-SPAN did a great job, I thought. I don’t remember what the final estimate was on the viewers but one estimate I heard was close to 900,000.

As I said, I loved the entire program. What I loved the most was the honor given to those who defend our country and its freedoms. To all vets past and present on here, and to families who have lost their sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, etc., in service to our country, thank you from the bottom of my heart!